Persons making contact with bodies of water have been advised, for many years, that for personal safety a personal flotation device (PFD), such as a life vest or a life jacket, should be provided for each person in such contact and worn. For example, in boating, the US Coast Guard requires that on a vessel underway, children under 13 must wear an approved PFD, unless they are below decks or in an enclosed cabin. Additionally, boating regulations, rules and laws typically require that there be at least one life jacket for each person aboard a vessel.
Most particularly, however, many parents of toddlers and small children are using PFD's on such children whenever the child is in or near a swimming pool. Because of the increase in accidental drowning by small children in relatively shallow pools, there is an increased demand for PFD's to help prevent such catastrophes.
The object of the PFD is to provide the user with flotation in such a manner that the face of the individual is caused to be above the surface of the water no matter the conscious state of the user. This is typically accomplished by having the front and the front upper surface of the PFD include more flotation material than any other part of the device, thereby causing the user's buoyancy to be highest in the front and near the face. A user who falls face first into water using a properly placed PFD will naturally be rotated, by the buoyancy forces, so as to end face up in the water. While this position is ideal for life preservation, the result is that substantially the entire vest is submerged or at least not very visible; the bright or reflective colors and materials of the vest are ineffective to help locate the user in water.
Additionally, in summertime and other weather or locations where swimming is likely, pools and beaches are typically filled with children such that it is difficult, at a distance, to differentiate one child from another. Whether the child is wearing or not wearing a PFD the child is fungible with other children at a distance who may also be wearing a PFD. As cautious parents are requiring their children to wear a PFD, such use provides an opportunity to distinguish children by the color or appearance of the vest. However, since most vests are made in colors designed to be easily visible in any situation, most vests are similar to each other, and selecting one's child on this basis is still difficult.
Traditional life vests do not provide an effective locating feature to locate and track a user because traditional life vests are meant to be a safety precaution to help individuals float in water. Although conventional life vests may have reflective colors such as bright orange to help locate and track a user, solely relying on the color is ineffective. The problem is that traditional life vests are still difficult to see and locate in circumstances where visibility is an issue. Accordingly, traditional life vests do not provide a solution to this problem because majority of life vests still heavily rely on the reflective colors for locating purposes. Effective tracking, detecting, locating, and rescuing can be tremendously prolonged in circumstances where the reflective color of the life vest is negatively impacted. For example, rescuing a user wearing a traditional life vest in a lake or an ocean may be difficult where waves or inclement weather impedes the life vest itself, rendering the reflective color ineffective.
While some PFD's are manufactured with electronic homing systems and radio beacons to help find persons lost at sea, the implementation of such devices in ordinary PFD's is costly, adds weight to the PFD and is generally unnecessary in most recreational environments.
It is apparent that a need exists for a life vest system that inexpensively improves locating and tracking a user in circumstances where visibility may be an issue without solely relying on reflective colors.
It would be helpful to have a device that provided the user, with safety near and in the water and would have some non-fungible indicia that would help a parent, guardian or other supervisor to know quickly where the user is. In such situations it is equally important to have a device that passively provides the indicia without interfering with the flotation and lifesaving functions of the PFD. It would also be helpful if the device added little weight and costs to the overall PFD, and that the passive identification elements of the device could be used on land as well as in the water.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a means for identifying a PFD-user at a distance while preserving the lifesaving function of the device. It is another object of the present invention to provide a locating feature that is passively employed such that the user can be identified no matter what condition of consciousness exists. It is also an object to provide an unobtrusive and inexpensive means to allow persons overseeing the user with a means to quickly find the user in a crowd, in the water or on the land.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.